


Transformers: Regeneration

by JellyAce339



Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crash Landing, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-13 01:47:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29394315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JellyAce339/pseuds/JellyAce339
Summary: A highly dangerous, lone Decepticon crash lands on Earth and befriends a 12 year old boy. A team of Autobots arrive, resuming their conflict with the Con not long before more Decepticons show up. The war resumes on Earth in secret from all humans, except for the one boy, who tries to prompt an end to it.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crash landing, yeah that's about it.

A cool breeze swept through the trees, disrupting the silence with the rustling of leaves as the sun dipped down past the distant skyline of Crinson City. Air circulated around and through the open doors of a long abandoned structure, just out of sight of the main road. A boy watched as the last rays of the sun slowly fell below the buildings marking the last day of summer. He wasn’t looking forward to seemingly endless work assigned to him for no good reason. Or at least, no good reason he could see. No more time to read freely, no more time to live solely in his own mindscape. He looked up at the sky now that the sun had fully disappeared. The deep blues behind the building chased the bright reds and oranges away from view towards the sun below the buildings. And just like that, the last day of summer had ended.

He leaned back and looked up at the darkening sky through the broken roof of the old warehouse. He had always wanted to see the stars he had read about so often in comic books about space and adventures. Even the fantasy stories talked about them. Scotty had explained to him time after time that he couldn’t see the stars because there were too many lights on in the city. “Why can’t everyone just shut all their lights off?” He would ask, “Everyone is supposed to be asleep anyways.” Scotty would just laugh and try to explain that everyone is too busy to do that. The boy let out a sigh as he gazed above. _Even if everyone shut their lights off, no one would be able to see any stars tonight anyways,_ he thought to himself, lying all the way down and placing his interlocked hands behind the base of his head, _there’s too many clouds in the way._

He started to doze off and wondered if Scotty would come to bring him home since school started tomorrow. Scotty had let him sleep in the warehouse before, so he wasn’t too worried. He listened to the rustling of the trees that came in waves. If he tried hard enough he could picture an ocean. He had never been to an ocean, but had seen plenty of pictures and videos to get a sense of what one might be like. And slowly, without realizing what was happening, he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Sounds of an overhead aircraft woke the boy as the sun barely made its presence known in the still very dark and cloudy morning sky. He was disoriented, forgetting where he was. The sound grew louder, very quickly as though the craft was headed straight for him. In a panicked confusion, the boy tried to stand up and move to see what was happening, only to lose his balance and stumble over. Before he could recover, the craft smashed into the ground, shaking the warehouse before crashing right into the rear of the building. The whole room erupted in a cloud of dust upon impact. The boy completely lost balance and was thrown a few feet towards the front of the building. The shrieking of metal on metal was ear piercingly loud, followed by creaks and groans of the old structure. The boy had managed to tuck into a ball with his hands over his head to protect himself from the impact and remained that way until everything went quiet. 

Peering into the dark, dust filled space, the boy slowly rose from his crouched position. If it weren’t for the slowly lightening of the sky, it would have been impossible to see anything. However, the boy could make out the dark shapes on the aircraft that had just crashed into the old warehouse. Squinting through the settling dust while he made his way closer to the impact site, the boy could see more and more details of the object. It was as big as the whole back wall which was over two stories tall, and twice that in width. The ground was shredded and sticking up at odd angles. As he got closer, he could see that a large portion of the strange object was embedded into the ground from the crash. Low light levels made it impossible to see any small details, but with the reducing dust levels, the boy could make out enough that made him think that the craft must’ve been some kind of top-secret government jet. It almost looked alien. 

Whatever it was, the craft began to make odd whirring noises and released pressure in short bursts. Startled, the boy jumped back a bit looking at the place at what appeared to be the front of the craft where panels began to very quickly fold back into themselves in a very complex and jerky manner. There was movement within the craft that caused the boy to hide behind some rubble. Whatever was inside was huge, and made odd mechanical noises as it moved. A massive metal hand reached out to grab the side of the opening and pulled with it a proportionately massive body of a giant robotic being. Four, bright red optical receptors pierced through the lingering dusty darkness. The body and face of the huge robotic figure were made of very sharp angles and points. The hand that wasn’t holding onto the craft instantly changed into what appeared to be some sort of weapon with an ominous red glow at the end that matched the same glow as the robot’s optics. It moved with an urgentness as the being cautiously pulled itself out of the craft, sweeping the weapon back and forth as it scanned the room. 

“Surviving lifeforms, make yourselves known or suffer the consequences.” The robot spoke using a tone that definitely wasn’t an artificial one, despite the sound itself being very robotic and staticy, making it very difficult to make out what was being said. This startled the boy even more and made him question if this robot was from the government. To his knowledge, no robots spoke that smoothly, ignoring the fact that something was causing interference.

The boy watched the robot as it continued to look around searching for any signs of movement. The dust had settled quite a bit and with the slowly brightening sky, he could make out more detail on the robot. It had other red glowing lights on its body, but the most noticeable were its optics which were set in thin eyelid-like slits that were very narrow as the robot searched. Its face looked almost mask-like, making it difficult to tell if the bottom portion was the top of a jaw or not. If it was, the face plate looked to have two vampire like teeth with two slanted vents above each. There were three crests on top of its head, the center one being a bit larger. The way the robot moved was unlike the movement of any robot the boy had ever seen, again calling into question his assumption that it was even from Earth. He moved to get a closer look, trying to be as quiet as he could. Without warning, the robot swiftly turned and pointed its weapon inches from the boy, powering it up, preparing to shoot.

“Wait! I’m innocent!” The boy pleaded in a panic, shooting his hands up, eying the now bright red end of what looked like the barrel of a futuristic gun. “Please don’t kill me!”

“Who are you,” the robot questioned, the boy could see what looked like a bottom jaw move as it spoke in the low, staticy, robotic voice, confirming his assumption about the robot’s face plate.

“Kit West,” the boy answered without hesitation, “boy, age twelve, four-foot seven, eye color is hazel, I like comics and pizza and--” 

“What planet is this?” The robot interrupted, sounding very impatient. He was cut off before he could finish listing his favorite things? _Rude_ , Kit thought.

“Th-this is planet Earth,” Kit answered, still very paranoid with the blaster inches from his face.

The robot paused a moment, analyzing the boy in front of him. _Threat level: three out of ten,_ reported the internal data analysis, unbeknownst to boy in front of him. The robot remained quiet while he continued to analyze the boy and the warehouse. 

“So… where are you from if you're not from Earth?” Kit asked, trying to loosen the tension. The robot remained unphased by the question from what Kit could see. He remained completely still, all four optics staring intensely at the boy. The robot finally responded to the question but the interference was so bad and the word was unfamiliar enough that Kit couldn’t make out what he was trying to say. Kit raised his eyes from the blaster and looked up at the robot and made eye contact for the first time. The big red optics were full of a mix of fear and uncertainty, both emotions the boy shared as well. This was definitely not a normal robot from Earth. 

A quick glance around at the bot and Kit noticed something that seemed off. Wedged in what looked like the robot’s neck was metal scrap from the wreck. Cut wires were periodically sparking and some strange, bluish liquid seemed to be leaking from the area. _Threat level: four,_ read an updated report after the robot noticed the boy’s attention to the wound. The bot shifted the blaster, reengaging it, the red glow brightening. Kit’s eyes shot back down before wincing in anticipation, “I-I think I can help you! Please don’t shoot!”

“You, help me?” The robot sounded confused, lowering the blaster a few inches. _Why does this creature care about my wellbeing?_

“There’s a piece of scrap that I think is causing interference with your voice,” Kit explained, “I-if you let me remove it, I’ll be able to understand you better.”

The bot reached at the area that Kit was referring to with his other hand, his fingers grazed the metal shard protruding from his neck. The bot gasped and winced in pain, but ignored it and tried grabbing at the scrap piece. “Ahhh!” the robot groaned loudly as he tried to pull the scrap out. 

“Please let me help you so you don’t hurt yourself further!” Kit shouted, _A robot who can feel pain and emotions?_

“No.” The robot grunted before trying again to remove the scrap metal. And, once again, yelling in pain.

“I promise I won’t hurt you, I just want to help.” Kit urged, “If not, can I at least put my arms down? They’re getting kinda tired.”

“Fine.” The robot lowered the blaster, disengaging it. He changed the blaster back into a hand, and offered it to Kit, “I’ll let you help.”

Surprised, Kit carefully climbed into the robot’s hand which was as big as he was. The bot cautiously brought Kit up to where the scrap was lodged in his neck. The sun was just below the horizon, giving Kit enough light to see what the scrap was caught on. Kit grabbed at the piece causing the bot to wince and groan. _Threat level: five, warning._

“Sorry, I’ll try to be more careful,” Kit apologized, “This will hurt a little bit but I’ll try my best to make it not as bad.”

He reached for the scrap again, this time being much more careful after seeing just how sensitive the area was. Kit grabbed hold of the metal piece, the bot winced as Kit gently pulled on the piece, carefully rotating and angling it around the wires. The scrap piece was almost fully out when Kit accidentally bumped it against a wire that was missing a large part of protective covering. _Threat level: eight! Danger!_ Shouting in pain, the robot pulled Kit away, throwing him to the ground several feet below. Kit landed without injury, managing to roll out of the way from the robot’s fit. 

“I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to!” Kit yelled up to the bot, who had stood up to distance himself from the boy. Kit didn’t realize just how big the bot was until now, staring up at the over twenty-five foot tall robot towering over him. The robot’s grunts and groans were already sounding much clearer, even with them echoing so much inside the warehouse. After he had calmed down a bit, the robot looked down as Kit, an obvious glare on his face as he was processing how to respond to what his analysis was calling an attack. 

“I swear it was an accident,” Kit tried to explain, “My hands slipped. If you want I could try guiding you to get it out the rest of the way.” 

_Threat level: six, warning._ He relaxed his face, and knelt back down closer to Kit’s level. “Are you sure?”

“I’m absolutely positive,” Kit assured him, “You’re already sounding much better.”

The robot offered Kit his hand again, bringing the boy closer and using his other hand to grab the scrap metal. Once again he winced upon contact. 

“Okay, now just tilt it slightly up and to the left,” Kit guided. The bot did so, very slowly and groaned in pain when the piece touched the exposed wire again. 

“My left, your right, sorry!” Kit exclaimed, clarifying his instructions. The bot made the correction. “Alright now slowly pull in the direction you have it tilted, and… now angle it to _your_ left, and that should do it.”

Sure enough, after Kit corrected his way of giving directions, the robot was easily able to remove the scrap. He held it up to get a better look at what had been causing him so much pain and discomfort. He looked back at the boy, _threat level: three._

“Thank you, Kit West.” The robot said without any interference or obstruction of any kind to his voice.

“You can just call me Kit,” the boy replied. “Now, what’s your name?”

“Cobalt.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kit leaves to go to school while Cobalt stays at the warehouse.

Three rapid beeps came in intervals from Kit’s wrist. He looked down to see that it was now six in the morning. 

“What’s that?” Cobalt asked after watching Kit turn off the alarm.

“Just my wrist watch,” Kit explained. “Usually I wouldn’t be waking up until right about now.”

“You go power down every night?” Cobalt looked confused. He had never heard of anything needing to power down daily.

“You don’t?” Kit returned to question and confusion, “So, where exactly did you come from and what… are you?”

Cobalt let out a sigh. “As I was trying to tell you before when my voice box connections were impaired, I’m from the planet Cybertron. As for what I am, I’m a sentient robotic organism,” he answered. “Now, what are you?”

“That’s a great question,” Kit said nervously. “I’m a human, and I don’t exactly know how else to describe my species.”

“Well, for now it doesn’t concern me what you are,” Cobalt stated. “The only thing I’m worried about is getting off this rock.”

“To go back home?” Kit asked excitedly, hoping he might be able to come with, Scotty too.

“No, Cybertron is lost,” Cobalt said coldly. “The planet only exists as a dead husk, inhabitable, lifeless.”

“I’m… sorry to hear that.” Kit wasn’t sure exactly how to respond, but his burning curiosity wanted answers. “What happened to it?”

“In the wake of a raging war, we… destroyed it.” Cobalt struggled to find words to describe the events that lead up to the fall of Cybertron. “In order to secure an advantage, Decepticons managed to control a portion of the AllSpark, the power source that grants life to all Cybertronians. We used it, more so abused it, to mass-create soldiers, to… well, we created life just to destroy it.” Cobalt paused for a bit, lost in thought as he remembered what had happened so long ago.

“You said ‘we’ as in, you are a Decepticon, correct?” Kit asked, trying to bring him back. “Who were you fighting against? Why were you fighting to begin with?”

“Yes, I am a Decepticon,” Cobalt said confidently, returning to the present before diving back into the past. “We were fighting against a stagnating society, but then split into Decepticons and Autobots, two factions wanting freedom in their own way. Autobots wanted to do so by words, Decepticons wanted to by action. Thus a war that split the planet in two raged on for eons.”

“So you got into a fight over how to do things?” Kit asked, even more confused.

“On Cybertron,” Cobalt began to explain, “One was given a job at the beginning of his life and was stuck with that job for life. Higher class bots stayed higher while lower class bots remained as nothing but scrap to them.” 

The anger and distaste in his voice made Kit nervous to ask anymore questions regarding Cobalt’s past. To try and think of a topic to change the subject to, Kit looked down at his watch and was immediately reminded of the one thing he was dreading.

“Is something wrong with your wrist device?” Cobalt asked after taking notice to Kit’s concerned look.

“Oh, uh n-nothing.” Kit struggled to come up with an explanation. “It’s just… my sister will be here soon and I don’t want her to see you. Or this.” He motioned towards the crash, “And I  _ really  _ don’t wanna try to explain all of this to her, or any other human.”

“Why is that?” Cobalt failed to comprehend what was so bad about another human finding out about his existence on the planet. Humans seemed harmless by themselves, all of his analytical scans gave enough evidence to this theory.

“Scotty will freak if she so much as sees anything out of the norm,” Kit explained with a hint of panic. “I know us humans look harmless to you, but if our government finds out you’re here… I’m not sure you’d be able to fight off hundreds of us with guns and tanks and jets… you get the picture.”

“I’m already short on practically all resources…” Cobalt thought out loud. “Any kind of interference would be best to avoid. I don’t need an entire planet on high alert coming after me, as I’m assuming not all of your kind is as… understanding.”

“You would be correct,” Kit agreed. “We tend to jump to conclusions about everything and usually it’s for the worst…”

“So what do you propose is the best course of action?” Cobalt inquired.

“You stay here out of trouble until I get back from school,” Kit said as he started looking around the warehouse. “After that I can tell you more about Earth. Have you seen my backpack? Oh, never mind. Found it.” He pulled a blue bag out from underneath part of the fallen roof, brushing off as much of the dust as he could.

“What’s that for?”   
“Oh, just school stuff,” Kit sighed as he started walking towards the front of the building, Cobalt following. “Nothing too important if you ask me. Anyways, my sister will be here any minute to pick me up. The road is just through those trees. No one can see this place from the road, so you should be alright. I’ll be back in about nine hours.”

“How long is that?” Cobalt stopped just short of the doorway, ducking down to watch Kit walk past. 

“Well, it was about five when you crashed, and six when my watch started beeping,” Kit explained, looking back down at his wrist. “That’s one hour. Now it’s about six-thirty, which is a half hour past six.”

“Alright.” Cobalt made some calculations himself. “So I will see you again at fifteen-thirty?”

“Uhh yeah, sure.” Kit didn’t feel like trying to explain how Earth time worked at that moment, he just wanted to make sure he got to the road before Scotty showed up. “See ya tonight!”

Cobalt returned Kit’s wave as he watched the boy disappear through the trees. He turned back to better examine the crash site inside the warehouse. It was an odd building. Rust was all over just about anything metal and any organic material appeared to be slowly rotting away. 

“Hmm…” Cobalt looked at the wreckage of his escape pod wondering if any part of it was worth fixing. Resources? He had none. There was nothing to fix anything with, and he wasn’t by any means an engineer. He was stranded on an alien world in a part of the universe he wasn’t even sure had been charted yet. And if it had, it would have been millennia ago.

  
  


“You are absolutely covered in dust. What happened?” Her voice was filled with concern for her younger brother as she tried whipping his face off with a napkin from her center console. Her appearance was much different from her brother’s baseball tee and jeans look. Her dark black hair kept short and was always spiked up. She wore a black tank top that left her floral tattoo on her shoulder visible. The skull in the center was Kit’s favorite part.

“Don’t worry about it Scotty.” Kit tried pushing his sister's hands away from his face. “I’ve been worse on my first day. Must’ve just gotten a little windy last night.”

“Well, as long as you aren’t hurt or anything.” Scotty focused her eyes on the road as she turned her car around to head back to the city. “Sorry I didn’t have any dinner prepped last night like I had promised.”

“It’s alright.” Kit shrugged. “I know they like calling you in early. You got enough on your plate, I’m old enough to worry about myself without you needing to.”

“I know, Kit,” —the concern still lingered in her voice— “but you’re all I have left. If something— anything— happened to you I’d—”

“Hey.” Kit placed his hand over hers on the shifter reassuringly. “It’s alright. You’re doing your best. You always have ever since mom and dad died.”

“Thanks, Kit.” She smiled down at him, reaching over to ruffle his already messy, brown hair. “I wouldn't have made it this far without you.”

“Alright, alright.” Kit again pushed her hands away. “No need to make me look more of a mess than I already am.”

  
  


“Here.” The bot pointed to a signal beacon on their intergalactic map. “That is the origin of the energy signature we have been following. Or, where the last ping came from before losing the signal completely.”

“Interesting…” A much larger mech loomed behind the first. “No Cybertronian has ever been to this sector since the Great Expansion.”

“Do we intercept?” the first started.

“Why wouldn’t we?” a third cut in. ”We’ve used so much energon to track him down. It would be such a waste to not follow through.”

“New uncharted territory?!” a fourth, much younger bot chimed in.

“I agree with Red Alert,” the larger bot’s deep, collected voice concurred. “Rendezvous with the signal. We will neutralize the vessel and recover the prisoner.”

  
  


He searched through the wreckage, prying at various panels to expose the components beneath. He was far from an experienced mechanic but figured that if he were to be stranded, what harm was there in a little tinkering. Cobalt’s main concern was getting a shielding mechanism functional to better keep himself hidden. He worked to redirect all power to the escape pod’s computer system, making sure to fix any energon leaks before powering it up. He wasn’t worried about all signals in the general area getting scrambled since he was alone. Anything to hide his energy signature worked just fine. 

“Alright, let’s give this a go.” Cobalt typed in the activation codes into the pod’s module. He watched as the little amount of energon left flowed through the system, to the module activating the systems. He then activated the shielding by typing in another set of codes. “That should do it.”

Still having a few more hours to kill, Cobalt started working on cleaning up the warehouse from the crash. There was debris scattered all over the place, all the catwalks attached to the back wall had fallen. And of course there was the floor and wall that had been badly torn up. He wasn’t too worried about fixing anything, moreso just cleaning it up a bit. Putting large pieces of scrap in an organized pile and attempting to reinforce any structurally impaired areas. 

It took him much less time than he had expected to clear the warehouse of loose debris, with the extra time Cobalt thought he would explore the area a little bit. He knew he needed to stay hidden from any humans but the urge to look around was too strong to resist. He walked out of the warehouse for the first time since crashing. He had seen the outside already but never really looked at anything. Everything was so unfamiliar to him. Cobalt had seen plant life on other planets before but nothing like this. He had been hearing engine noises pass by all day and was curious to see what kinds of vehicles the humans used. 

Cautiously, he crept through the trees and down a slight hill that kept the warehouse hidden from passing cars. Cobalt peered through the leaves, crouched down to stay out of sight from any humans driving by. The vehicles were all rather standard; most had four wheels and were all relatively a similar length. He observed many different types of cars and trucks that drove past. He took a liking to some more than others. Soon he found himself looking for a suitable disguise. Something he could use to blend in and be hidden in plain sight.

_ Boring, too loud, too flashy,  _ he thought to himself as he watched car after car after truck drive down the road.  _ No, Not quite… What the- _

A group of cyclists caught him off guard. He didn’t hear any engine noise because there weren’t any engines. Cobalt found this very odd and didn’t understand. Why would the humans use motorless mechanisms as transport when it seemed almost everyone owned a car or truck? 

Cobalt started to see what automobiles were most common. He knew what types he could use without drawing too much attention to himself. Some vehicles he only saw once while others he counted six or seven times within the half hour of watched the road. Then one grabbed his attention like none of the others had.

“That one.” He was confident in his choice. Everything about this vehicle spoke to him like none of the others had. It was perfect, better even. A quick analytical scan told him the rest. For a split second he wondered if Kit would like it too. Would he even come back like he said he would? 

Before the vehicle could round the turn and disappear, he scanned it. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Autobots have arrived and are in Earth's orbit. Kit and Cobalt spend some quality time together.

“Commander Starscream, we have picked up a Decepticon signal in Sector Eleven.” A bot sat in front of a monitor that displayed where the signal was coming from. 

“Call me that one more time, Synthwave, and I will have your spark,” the commander threatened. 

“Until we have full confirmation that Lord Megatron is gone, I will consider using the title,” she retorted. “Until then, you are still a commander to me.” The bot paused. “And don’t even think about striking me from behind.”

“What?! I was not!” Starscream’s voice went up several octaves as he spoke in disbelief.

Synthwave rolled her optics behind her visor and, in one swift motion, stood up and pinned Starscream against the wall behind him. One of her swords held up against his neck, the other ready to strike should he try to escape her. Starscream was in shock that a bot half his size could pin him so easily. 

“Do not question me,” she said in a low tone, holding him against the wall.

“Thank you, Synthwave, for—” A third bot walked in, cutting himself off at the sight of the two bots up against the wall. “Am I interrupting something?”

“No, no.” The two said quickly, without hesitation. Both awkwardly trying to avoid explaining as Synthwave released Starscream from the wall, stepping away from each other.

“Ah-hem, anyways,” Synthwave said, trying to redirect the conversation away from the previous event. “While you were away, Soundwave, our scanners picked up this.”

“A Decepticon energy signature,” Soundwave examined the monitor screen, “in Sector Eleven?”

“Odd, I know,” she stated. “No Cybertronian has been there since we started sending our energon to other planets.”

“That isn’t the only thing our scanners are picking up.” Soundwave pointed at the screen.

“An ion trail,” Starscream observed. 

“From the looks of it, only decacycles old,” Soundwave said as he read the analytics. “It’s faint but definitely there.”

“Look at that, it’s headed towards the Decepticon signal,” Synthwave said excitedly, an eager look in her optics. “I hope it’s an Autobot ship. Been itching to fight since we left Cybertron.”

“Do we follow?” Soundwave asked.

“I see no reason not to,” Starscream thought.

“To Sector Eleven?” Synthwave asked.

“Yes,” Starscream said before addressing Soundwave. “Set course for Sector Eleven.”

  
  
  


“Magnus, our scanners are picking up intelligent life on the planet,” Red Alert announced as they closed in on Earth’s solar system. 

“Remain in orbit until we can determine a good place to land so we don’t disturb the natives,” Ultra Magnus commanded. “Keep an optic on the scanners for any signs of that escape pod.”

“Aw, come on Magnus,” The younger bot pleaded. “Why can’t we land now?”

“An unknown planet with intelligent life is best to be observed at a distance first,” A stern bot from across the control room said without looking up from his station. 

“No tellin’ what might be down there, kid,” Another bot added in a relaxed tone. 

“So how long exactly do we have to wait up here for?” she asked as they approached the planet.

“Not long,” Red Alert explained as she checked the scanners. “Given the planet’s size, I think an astro-cycle will be plenty long to determine a good landing site.”

“And if the intelligent life forms could be a threat to us,” The stern bot said, his optics still fixed to his display screen, monitoring the scanners.

“Lighten up a bit, would ya, Prowl?” the more relaxed bot urged. “Not every unknown living thing is looking to kill us.”

“Lighten up?” The bot repeated the phrase, jerking his stern gaze to the other bot. “Is that what this war has taught you, Jazz? To lighten up?”

“Cool your treads, you two,” Red Alert warned. “I just finished cleaning up medbay, and I don’t want to have it a mess again just to put the two of you back together.”

The two mechs looked away from each other. Prowl let out a low growl as he returned to monitoring his screens. Jazz returned to his station as well, keeping an eye on various ships systems and stats. An awkward tenseness filled the room as each bot looked between the two, not sure what to say to break the silence. Fortunately, or unfortunately, two new bots entered the bridge through a pair of sliding doors. They were in the middle of discussing something but were interrupted by the cold, hard silence of the room.

“How much ya wanna bet that Prowl almost got into another fight with Jazz?” the first whispered to the other, keeping his voice just loud enough that everyone in the room could hear. Prowl glared at his display screen, trying to ignore his comrade’s comment. 

“I’ll take it you two have finished stabilizing the ship’s shields,” Ultra Magnus assumed in an attempt to change the subject. “What’s our status on power levels?”

“Shields are up and running,” the second of the two bots began, nervously.

“But our current energon consumption is anything but efficient,” the first concluded. “Not exactly sure what that Con did to our systems when he made a run for it. I’d really love to thank him for it though.” 

“We could try to conserve power by shutting off any unnecessary systems,” the second continued, “although that would leave us exposed to any nearby Cons, we would only have to do so until we can land safely on the planet. Scanners are picking up some Energon readings.”

“What are our current Energon levels at?” Magnus asked.

“Twenty percent,” Jazz chimed in. “I’m finally getting updated statistics again.”

“Did that Con really do _that_ much damage?” the young bot thought aloud. 

“We were in the middle of calibrating and defragging our systems when he made his escape, Moonracer,” Prowl explained. “Interrupting such procedures caused system wide damage, including our fuel lines to get backed up and the loss of one of our engines and fuel pumps.”

“And a lot of other problems that Wheeljack and myself have been trying to both repair and get back to working as efficiently as they were before,” The first bot continued to explain.

“And our shields are just now coming back online?” Moonracer questioned.

“Believe me, I was just as concerned when I realized just how long they’ve been down,” the bot said in agreeance. “Thank the All Spark that we didn’t run into any solar flares or asteroid fields during that time. Primus knows what would’ve happened if we ran into any Decepticons. 

“Thankfully our cloaking systems remained undamaged,” Wheeljack added.

“All we can do now is gather data and continue repairs on the ship.” Ultra Magnus sighed, looking out the main view port of the spacecraft. His gaze getting lost in the swirling of Earth’s atmosphere. Hoping their Decepticon prisoner was below.

  
  
  


The roads were much more enjoyable than the old warehouse. Cobalt enjoyed every twist and turn of the forest road. The way his vehicle mode handled the curves and powered up the hills. The sunlight fell through the trees, the shadows flowing over his bluish grey finish. It was pure perfection. He had almost completely lost track of time when he remembered: Kit. How could he have forgotten about the small creature he had almost blasted out of existence? Cobalt had already accessed the human's data net and global mapping system so he knew exactly how to get back to the warehouse. He just hoped he wouldn’t be keeping Kit waiting there wondering if the Decepticon had abandoned him. Cobalt needed Kit, and somehow he had a feeling that the young boy needed him as well.

The streets buzzed with activity of children leaving the school grounds to walk home or to a nearby bus stop. There was a fragile excitement in the air that wouldn’t be there by the end of the week. It was the end of the first day of school. Friends who didn’t get to see each other over the summer engaged in rambunctious conversation. Everyone seemed to be having a good time. The lower grades didn’t have to worry about first day homework, except for the occasional introductory assignment. Usually filling out a paper to tell the teacher about hobbies or what students had done over the break. Everyone had someone else or a group to chat with about how boring the upcoming year is going to be. Everyone except Kit. But he wasn’t concerned about having friends here. He was thinking of someone else he would talk to about his day as he walked alone towards his apartment.

Scotty had left him a key when she dropped her younger brother off that morning. Scotty wasn’t going to be home until late that night but usually had some kind of snack or meal ready for Kit after school. 

Kit walked up the three flights of stairs and down the hall to the small apartment. The small kitchen led into the living space which had a door that opened to the single bedroom he shared with Scotty. He didn’t have any homework so Kit dropped his bag next to the couch and grabbed the bag Scotty had left him on the kitchen table. Peering inside, he saw an apple, a bag of crackers and a note:

_Chocolate milk and ham sandwich in the fridge,_

_don’t get into too much trouble ;)_

He smiled at the winky face she had drawn on the note. Scotty had so much going on and she still managed to do whatever she could to take care of him, even when she couldn’t be there in person. Kit went over to the refrigerator to grab the bottle of chocolate milk and sandwich. Scotty didn’t buy extra food like chocolate milk very often. She must’ve gotten it to congratulate him on getting through the first day of seventh grade. 

Kit changed his mind about leaving his backpack behind. He figured it would be good to have to keep his dinner safe on the bus ride over to the warehouse. He also grabbed a few comic books from his shelf as well as a few other belongings he wanted to show Cobalt. Kit finished filling his bag with anything he thought might interest his new friend and headed out for the bus stop.

The bus ride wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. Kit took the bus to the last stop just outside of Crinson, from there he walked the mile section of road to the warehouse. He watched the passing buildings and cars outside the window. Kit only had a few more days left on his summer bus pass, which in previous years wasn’t an issue. But this year was different. He wondered if Scotty would be able to lend him some extra money for a new bus pass so he could continue going to the warehouse after school. _No,_ Kit thought, _she already has enough going on. I just won’t get to visit Cobalt very often._

The bus was on its last stop before the one Kit would get off at. He looked out the window watching the houses get fewer and fewer, mixing in with the increasing amount of trees. As he watched the blur of green, Kit began to wonder what Cobalt had been up to all day. 

Kit got off at his stop and walked up the road towards the warehouse. It didn’t take him too long, but when he got there, Cobalt was nowhere to be found. Kit walked through the warehouse to the far end where the Con’s escape pod had crashed. Kit was able to see that Cobalt had cleaned the wreckage up quite a bit since that morning and had powered up the craft. He set his bag down and tried climbing into the pod to see if Cobalt was inside, however he was unable to and reverted to calling out. His voice echoed through the abandoned structure but no one answered. He called again. No answer.

Kit wandered back outside in hopes that Cobalt may be nearby and was just exploring the surrounding forest. He called for his friend again but nothing returned the call. Kit stood in the small clearing in front of the warehouse, looking around at the trees searching for any sign of the giant robot. All he saw was the occasional bird flying from tree to tree. Feeling discouraged, Kit sat down on the grass and looked up at the passing clouds in the late afternoon sky. 

_Did he really abandon me?_ Kit thought as he watched the clouds drift by in thin wisps. He heard cars drive by on the road every so often. Then he heard engine noise that he thought was a car passing by until it only continued to grow louder. Kit stood up and squinted through the trees that blocked the road from view. He could hear sticks cracking and breaking under the weight of the approaching vehicle. He could see glints of sunlight reflecting off the bluish grey finish through the leaves and low hanging branches. Kit got nervous when he realized the vehicle was not slowing down at all as it was heading up the hill. The vehicle burst through the low branches and shrubbery, flying up the hill and off the ground as it submitted the climb. Kit watched in amazement as the truck changed form, mid air, about thirty feet in front of him. Everything seemed as though it were moving in slow motion above him as he watched the truck slowly turn into a robot and land only a few feet from him. Cobalt slowly stood up from his crouched position after sticking the landing. The sun peaking out from above his shoulder through the faint dust cloud he had created. Kit stood speechless below him. 

“I— wow,” Kit managed to get out after a few moments of trying to process what just happened.

“Do you like it?” Cobalt asked, referring to his pickup truck alternate mode.

“Like what? The fact that you just turned into a car?! The fact that you jumped almost thirty feet into the air and landed almost on top of me?!” Kit’s eyes were wide with excitement as a crooked smile fitted itself onto his face. “Can you do it again? The whole transforming thing?”

“What, this?” Cobalt converted back into his alt mode. Kit’s eyes lit up even more and his smile grew even more as he struggled to contain his excitement. The boy ran around the truck to get a better look, the smile plastered onto his face. It wasn’t a normal, sad looking old pickup like he would see driving around the city either. This one was just… _cool._ Looked like the sports car of the truck world. Something from an action film Kit would’ve watched with Scotty over the summer. 

“Wanna go for a ride?” Cobalt asked as he opened the passenger side door.

“As if I wouldn’t!” Kit eagerly climbed in, pulling the seat belt over his shoulder. “I had no idea you could do this!”

“All Cybertornians can,” Cobalt informed. “You ready?”

Kit nodded and Cobalt quickly floored the gas pedal, turning back around towards the road leaving a huge cloud of dust behind them. Cobalt started off taking the turns nice and easy, scanning for other vehicles’ presence on the road before stepping it up a notch. He started hitting the curves harder, speeding out of them and racing down the straights. Cobalt had his scanners search for other vehicles on the road so they could slow down to the legal speed before taking off again. There was something about the constant excitement on Kit’s face and the pure joy from the boy’s laughs of amazement that fueled a fire inside of Cobalt. It was a new feeling he was unfamiliar with but it made him feel a connection to the human child. All he wanted to do now was see Kit happy. That’s all that mattered to Cobalt now as they sped through the trees watching the sun get closer to the horizon. 

After a little while Cobalt brought them back to the warehouse to watch the sun set. Cobalt sat down outside the front of the old building facing the city with Kit on his shoulder as they watched the sun touch the top of the skyline. The bright orange and yellow sky turned crimson and orange and slowly darkened behind them. 

“This is my favorite part,” Kit whispered, afraid to break to peaceful silence. “Right as it dips behind the buildings and barely shows through like that.”

“Hmm,” Cobalt sighed.

“You alright?” Kit looked over at the bot, his chrome face reflecting all of the colors of the sunset.

“It’s just I haven’t seen a sunset in... millenia.” Cobalt struggled to say it, but it was the truth. The last time he saw a sunset was when the sun set on Cybertron for the last time during the war. 

“Whoa, I didn’t realize you were that old,” Kit marveled.   
“So are you going to be spending the night here again or do you have a home to return to for the night?” Cobalt said, trying to change the subject away from himself.

“Oh, right,” Kit remembered. “I am supposed to return to the apartment tonight. Scotty, my sister, said she doesn’t want me spending the night here on a school night.”

“Well then,” Cobalt started, cupping his hand up to his shoulder for Kit to climb into so he could set the boy down, “we better get going before it gets too late so you have time to recharge.”

“I guess,” Kit groaned. 

Once again, Cobalt changed to his vehicle form, letting Kit take the passenger seat. As soon as Kit had his seatbelt on, Cobalt started for the road, heading towards the city this time. Kit gave him directions to the apartment complex and had Cobalt drop him off a few blocks away at the bus stop. Kit waved as Cobalt drove away. The sun had fully set and any remaining color had faded from the sky as Cobalt pulled away from the city. 

Right as Cobalt left the heart of the city and started back on the road that led to the warehouse, he received a communication from his escape pod; the systems had fully rebooted and it had picked up the signal of its mothership in Earth’s orbit. The Autobots had caught up to and found him. 

“ _Scrap._ ”


End file.
